Peasants and Kings

The Curse of the Crimson Throne

Part 14: The Emperor and the Arkonas

As we emerged from Vencarlo's house, we were approached by a young man who seemed familiar to us. His name was Amin, and we realised that he was the young nobleman we had rescued many months ago from a mob during the riots. He told us that he had been a guest of Vencarlo's at his fencing school ever since the quarantine of Old Korvosa happened. He said that the school had been attacked by Red Mantis assassins and then burnt down. Vencarlo had fought off the assassins, but then fled. Amin said that Vencarlo had had several meetings with an artist known as Salvatore Scream, a man who was renowned for painting disturbing and horrific paintings, and perhaps we should seek him out as to the whereabouts of Vencarlo.

We found Salvatore's studio down by the river. The house was in disarray, with signs of many people entering the house. We also discovered a rather unusual woman sat waiting for us. She was an elf named Laori. She was clad in figure-hugging chainmail, which was adorned with spikes, and she carried a spiked chain as a weapon. She smiled cheerfully at us, and said that she, too, was seeking Salvatore, but he was not here, as he had been captured several days ago by the Emperor of Old Korvosa. She said she was interested in his muse, wanted to know how he came up with the ideas and inspriation for his art. Ever suspicious, Reg questioned her thoroughly, and was shocked to discover that she was a cleric of Zon-Kuthon, god of pain and darkness. She was a very cheerful person to be a cleric of such an evil deity. Reluctantly, the party let Laori join them. Laori then produced something for us that she had found in Salvatore's studio - a piece of cloth from a jacket. We recognised the insignia on the scrap - it was the jacket of the Seneschal! The man who could oppose the queen's rule had been here! We needed to find Salvatore at once and question him.

We made our way down to the docks of Old Korvosa, where the Emperor resided. We were soon invited up to his court by some of his lackeys. And there, on a rooftop overlooking the docks, we met the self-proclaimed Emperor of Old Korvosa. He was a weedy, unkempt man in theatrical robes to make him look like a king. He was pathetic. However, he was surrounded by a dozen or so men, and behind him stood a very ornate guillotine that looked as if it had been used many times before.

Our petition to the Emperor fell on deaf ears. Despite Reg's diplomacy and Adam's intimidations, the Emperor was not going to let us see Salvatore. Just when I could see that the group looked as if they were about to draw their weapons, the Emperor clapped his hands and gave us a proposal - we were to play a game of Blood Pig against some of his men. If we won, we could meet Salvatore.

Let me tell you of this barbaric sport that the Emperor had devised. On a flat roof, an area had been marked off for the teams to start in. At each end was a small cage, and a pit in the floor. When the game commenced, a live pig appeared in one of the cages. The idea of the game was simple - grab the pig and get it into the pit at the opposite end of the field. Of course, this wasn't as easy as it looked. The pig put up quite a fight, and wriggled and squirmed in the arms of the players. The other team also punched and kicked us as we tried to play. We also discovered that the pits each contained a ravenous wolverine! The poor pig was to be eaten alive all in the name of sport.

So, the game commenced. At one point, Reg picked up one of the other players and hurled him off the roof, which brought whoops and cheers from the crowd watching. In the end, it was Adam's quick reflexes that got us the winning point. Begrudgingly, the Emperor lead us to see Salvatore. The Emperor then made one fatal mistake - he accompanied us to Salvatore without any of his men. He was quick to defeat, and soon Salvatore was released from captivity.

Salvatore had much to tell us. Neolandus, the Seneschal, was his friend, and had turned up at his studio a few hours after the King had died. He told Salvatore that the queen had murdered the king, and had entered into a pact with the Red Mantis! Salvatore knew that the queen would be looking for the seneschal, so he suggested that he should seek asylum with House Arkona.

House Arkona was one of Korvosa's oldest noble houses. They had an exotic palace overlooking Old Korvosa. The Arkonas had always been champions for the poor of Old Korvosa, and they were highly regarded by the people on the island.

So, with this new information, it was time to pay our respects to House Arkona and enquire of the Seneschal. Before we left, Laori said her goodbyes and escorted the artist off the quarantined island and to safety. I had a feeling that we would see her again.

The Arkona's palace was immense. It was decorated in the style of the Vudran palaces that I had read about when I was a child. Peacocks, tigers, elephants and monkeys were carved around doorways and windows. The smell of jasmine filled the air. The place was very grand. The Arkonas were certainly very wealthy.

We were shown in to a waiting room. Eventually we were met by Bahor Arkona himself. He was a well dressed, handsome man. He was very polite and every bit the gentleman that we had heard. However, there soon emerged a darker side to him that came as a surprise to us all. Firstly, he refused to tell us anything until we had defeated the Emperor of Old Korvosa. When we told him that it had already been done, his eyes lit up and he was very excited. He then told us that the Seneschal was indeed in the palace, but he was being held in a place called the Vitrified Labyrinth, deep beneath the house. The man was a prisoner here! Bahor then said that if we wanted to see him, we should adventure down into the Labyrinth and find him. He warned us that a large monster lurked within the Labyrinth, and that parts of the dungeon moved and rotated.

What was going on? Why was the Seneschal being held captive? Was Bahor going to watch in amusement as we explored his Labyrinth? We had no choice but to enter the dungeon. And so we descended a secret staircase that lead to the Vitrified Labyrinth, determined to find Neolandus and escape this peculiar place.